Cathay sees ‘significant progress’ in 2023 traffic as operational crunch lingers

Cathay Pacific made “significant progress” in recovering passenger travel demand in 2023 – with passenger traffic sharply improving from the previous year’s lower base – even as it acknowledged its “ongoing” operational challenges. In traffic results for the full year, the Hong Kong-based carrier reported a six-fold jump in passenger volume to nearly 18m in 2023, its first year of operations since pandemic border restrictions eased. Full-year traffic grew about four-fold year on year, with the sharpest increase seen in Northeast and Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Cathay saw capacity grow by more than three times, leading to a 12.1 percentage point increase in passenger load factor to 85.7%. For December, Cathay carried over 1.7m passengers, about twice the number compared to the year-ago period. Traffic grew 89% year on year, outpaced by a 94% rise in capacity. Cathay chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau says the airline saw “overwhelming demand” for short-haul travel during December, pointing out that Japan and Southeast Asia were “especially popular”. “We [also] saw good demand for travel from the United States and the Southwest Pacific in the first half of December. The demand for travel from the United Kingdom was particularly strong as it coincided with the peak period for international students returning to Hong Kong,” Lau adds. However, Cathay does not mention the operational snags it encountered over the Christmas and New Year period, which saw it abruptly cancel up to 40 flights a day. <br/>